


How to Get a Boyfriend in 10 Days

by Attack_On_Feelings (delsol)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dorks in Love, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, M/M, Road Trips, animal crossing is played, bisexual!jean, other ships in the tags are only mentioned vaguely, pansexual!marco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 21:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4802057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delsol/pseuds/Attack_On_Feelings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Jean needed was a date, not an existential crisis</p><p><strong>Based off the au:</strong> Hey could you pretend to be my date? My parents can't know I'm single and oh my god you're getting more attractive my the minute.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Days Until Gala: 10

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theawkwardghost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theawkwardghost/gifts).



> this is my first work with jeanmarco as the main pairing so i hope i didn't botch it up too much. i've been working on this oneshot for almost 3 months ┐(‘～`；)┌
> 
> Also 10/10 would recommend listening to [riptide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_1HMAGb4k/)  
> written for the wonderful [sab](http://gondolinnel.tumblr.com/)  
> who made my (somewhat) new tumblr icon  
> my tumblr is: [fortress-of-fanfics](http://fortress-of-fanfics.tumblr.com/)  
> 

**Days Until Charity Gala: 10**

This was bad, this was really, _really_ bad.

 

Jean ended the phone call with his mother after what seemed like the longest one sided conversation he’d ever had. He’d been relatively good at giving small insights on whatever his mom had been ranting about (seriously fuck Linda for that PTO-soccer mom comment she made on your Facebook post, mom), but when she dropped the bomb that they were hosting an ‘extravagant charity gala’ and expected him to bring his girlfriend; he’d freaked out.

 

You see the problem was, his “girlfriend” was somewhere halfway across the state fucking his best friend.

 

So there he was, pacing around his dorm room no doubt driving the other occupant of the room crazy, mentally creating a list of girls he knew that didn’t think he was a class-A-douchebag, whilst sending messages to all his friends asking if they knew anyone. He’d even texted Annie asking if it was okay with both her and Mikasa to bring the latter with him (consent is everything, man) but to no avail.

 

Unless he could get Eren to dress in drag he was pretty much screwed.

 

❉ ❉ ❉

 

Marco peered over his biology textbook and watched Jean stride from one corner of the small room to the other while he tapped away on his phone in quick succession. The occasional frustrated huff drew Marco from his studies to the disheveled-looking blond. Or would he be considered brunet? Dirty blond? Two-toned?

 

Maybe Marco needed a well-deserved break from studying the in depth sequence of the citric acid cycle. He chuckled when he thought of it being called ‘citrus cycle’ complete with oranges instead of NADPH. He’s a fun guy, he really is, just not when he’s been reading the same damn chapter for 4 hours.

 

 He pushed his glasses down and massaged the bridge of his nose after having set the heavy textbook down onto his bed. Nothing seemed to catch the attention of the pacing blond. Another huff came from Jean as Marco stretched his hands above his head causing a few joints to crack.

 

“You know if you keep walking around like that you’re going to wear out our floor.” Jean looked up suddenly at the sound of the brunet’s voice, seemingly startled at the fact that someone else was in the room with him.

 

He ran a hand through the blond part of his hair sheepishly. “Sorry man, my mom just dropped some serious shit on me.”

 

Marco sat up straight on his bed with a concerned look “Are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?” He paused and looked at Jean who was currently tilting his head towards the wall furthest away from Marco. “Do you feel comfortable talking about it? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to push or anything.”

 

 “No, no, no you’re definitely not pushing me I was just zoning out is all.” He was quick to convince him otherwise. Marco simply smiled encouragingly at him patting a spot on his bed which wasn’t currently occupied by biology materials.

 

Jean made his way over to the bed and sat down where Marco had gestured while simultaneously turning off his phone. He knows if this is going to be another heart to heart with Marco, it might take a while, and it’s probably better if he isn’t distracted by Instagram or any other social media.

 

“So what’s on your mind?” Marco got straight to the point knowing if he beat around the bush Jean would never get to the big problem.

 

He rubbed his hands subconsciously on his knees while he thought through his predicament. Now that Jean thought of it, it seemed kind of dumb but Marco would undoubtedly find a way to console him and make Jean feel less shitty about his situation.

 

So he explained the phone call to the best of his ability; how his parents were throwing another gala and expected him to bring a plus one. He then mentioned where his ex-girlfriend currently was and why that made it a huge pain in the ass. Finally telling him how he couldn’t find any girls to bring with him, which ultimately left him without a date. He knew he’d have to shamefully call his mom back to tell her that Sasha had finally left him for Connie.

 

“ _Annnd_ that’s why I’m completely fucked.” Jean finally ended his rant with an agitated sigh and a distraught face.

 

All throughout Jean’s explanation Marco sat silently, only adding input when he thought Jean wanted to hear it and nodded encouragingly when the other man seemed to have trouble finding the right words.

 

Marco fiddled with his hands nervously while thinking through what he was going to say. “Well I think I have an easy solution,” He stuttered suddenly and looked down at the blue sheets with blushing cheeks, “well if you were okay with it, that is.”

 

Jean straightened up immediately “You have a plan already?”

 

Marco laughed “Kind of.” He shrugged, then made eye contact with the other man. “Just promise me if you don’t like it you won’t take it the wrong way.” Jean nodded and gave a signal for him to speak, so Marco continued sheepishly. “Well you could just take me with you. If your parents ask just tell them Sasha’s out of town and I recently got dumped or something and needed to get out of the dorm.” He finished quickly so Jean wouldn’t have a chance to interrupt.

 

There was no silence or accusatory glares like Marco had expected, instead Jean practically toppled into him with a tight hug. “You’re the absolute best, Marco. Didya know that?” He spoke closely to the brunet’s ear.

 

Marco was currently unable to breathe (definitely not due to feeling Jean’s breath on his ear thank you very much) and was seconds away from wheezing like an old man. Jean finally seemed to notice this and released his grip a little so Marco had room to breathe. “I would’ve never thought of that brilliant plan so thanks, man.” He gave Marco a few pats on the back before backing away and giving him back his personal space.

 

“What day is the party?” He asked once he was capable of breathing normally again. He could still feel the pressure of where Jean had hugged him moments ago. Who knew that playing baseball could make someone so strong? To be completely honest he’d never even really noticed Jean’s muscles until now and they were _very_ nice looking.

 

Jean, who was oblivious to Marco ogling his sculpted arms, unlocked his phone to look through his calendar where he had all the events for that month color coded and organized. He seemed like a messy and disorganized guy, and truth be told he used to be that way, but being organized made things so much easier. “Looks like we have ten days to find you a nice outfit.”

 

“You don’t think I have nice clothes somewhere around this mess of a room?” Jean raised an eyebrow at him in an are-you-kidding-me way. Marco pouted, “Alright fine, I have nice clothes but most of them are back home.”

 

“See I can already read you so well.” Jean then proceeded to poke Marco teasingly much to the brunet’s dismay.

 

“I should hope so.” Marco smiled teasingly at the energetic man that had somehow ended up draped over his leg. “We have been living in the same dorm for about 6 months now.”

 

They were silent for a while, Jean on his phone and Marco going back through his notes, but it was soon broken by Jean. “I’m honestly feeling so relieved. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Marco.” Marco’s eyes widened dramatically at the statement that seemed to come out of nowhere. He and Jean had a close friendship ever since they started rooming together, but Jean’s words felt more intimate than something you would say to a friend. The mere thought that their relationship went deeper than friends made Marco blush bright red.

 

Before things could get awkward, Jean wiggled off of Marco’s leg and scooted over towards the spot he’d originally been in. “Now that we have my problem figured out do you wanna play Wii?”

 

Marco nodded quickly with his still red face. “You can, uh, pick the game.”

 

“So you’d be fine if I picked Animal Crossing?” Jean asked getting up from the bed in order to set up their game.

 

“Well if you picked that game you might finally beat me at something.” Marco smiled tauntingly, pushing his glasses further up on his nose. He slid off the bed to join Jean on the floor.

 

Jean scoffed while bent over the control system. “You don’t ‘beat’ someone at Animal Crossing. It’s like a bunch of animals making their town chill for other animals to move into.”

 

“Why the hell do we even have this game?” Jean blushed immediately looking up from the Wii to glance at Marco who was suppressing a smile.

 

“Because it was my sister’s and it probably got mixed in when I packed my shit together for college.” He paused and continued to glare up at Marco who had begun to quietly laugh. “Also maybe I want to make a bitch-ass town for the fucking animals.” Marco could no longer hold back and his laughter spilled into the room rather loudly. “Shut up you’re gonna make our neighbors mad again.” The man huffed in embarrassment.

 

Marco only snorted at that, both of them knew full well it was Jean screaming at Smash Bros at 4 in the morning that brought their tired, and very angry neighbors to the door last time.

 

While the game was being set up, Marco got up to find the only beanbag (and really only chair to be honest) they had in the dorm. Normally Jean would snatch it up before Marco could even find it, but he was currently transfixed on naming their town so Marco had gotten to the comfy chair first. He’d found it under a pile of socks which, if he were being completely honest, were probably not clean in the slightest, but still dragged it over in front of the TV where Jean was concentrated on figuring out the perfect name.

 

Jean moved to settle on the beanbag, however tonight Marco wasn’t going to give it up that easy. He was quick to spread out on the beanbag effectively taking up most of the room; Jean was not so easily deterred however and was not against shoving the brunet off his rightful throne.

 

Shoves eventually turned into full out pushing until Marco had finally had enough. “Jeaaaan!” Marco wailed after a particularly hard shove. “You’re not playing fair.” He huffed and crossed his arms looking like a petulant child.

 

Jean sighed in defeat. “Fine. You get the beanbag chair but only because I’m lazy. Also because you made the pouty face. Mostly because of me being lazy though so don’t get too cocky, Bodt.” Marco smiled at his victory shuffling around to get into a comfier position while Jean went back to picking a name.

 

“Do you like this one? I think it accurately describes my sense of humor.” Jean suddenly moved from his place on the floor to fit in between Marco’s legs adjusting so that his upper body was placed on the bean bag and his head was resting lightly on Marco’s lower stomach. He didn’t make it a big deal so Marco decided to not make it one either. Although the way Jean’s shoulder was digging into Marco’s crotch might make things a little awkward if Jean decided to move around a lot throughout the game. Marco cleared his throat (along with his perverted thoughts) and turned his attention to the screen where ‘Yo Mama’ was currently displayed.

 

He groaned and smacked Jean’s head lightly, “Are we in 6th grade again or something?”

 

“I never said my sense of humor was good.” He looked up at Marco and grinned.

 

Jean ended up playing Animal Crossing until two a.m. with Marco watching the entire time as he made their town worthy of the title bitch-ass until Marco could no longer be convinced by Jeans pleas of ’10 more minutes’ or hold off any more time on trying to memorize the steps of cellular respiration.

 


	2. Days Until Gala: 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys visit mama Bodt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i decided to split up this long one shot into 4 smaller chapters
> 
> i hope you enjoy!

**Days Until Charity Gala: 4**

 

Marco realizes he should’ve organized his time better. Like _a lot_ better.

 

He wasn’t one to really procrastinate. Wait that’s a lie. He sometimes maybe, just a little bit, procrastinates; BUT NOT USUALLY. He’d been so focused on studying for his upcoming bio exam that he completely forgot to ask his mom to make sure his tux was clean and ready to be worn. So with four days until the huge party, he had to make the two-hour long drive home just to make sure he didn’t put it off any longer and forget about it. Again, totally not something he would do…

 

He grabbed his keys off the kitchen table, and nearly forgetting his wallet which had been hidden under a pile of Jean’s unread, but somehow always scattered around, sports magazines.  He double checked he had enough money for a few miles at the gas station if needed, then opened the door and nearly ran into Jean who had been carrying four CVS bags filled with enough junk food and beer to last them a few months.

 

Marco luckily stopped before they could have a head-on collision by quickly maneuvering his hands to push Jean away from himself.

 

Jean looked startled to say the least. “Sorry I was just on my way to grab my tux. You said it was going to be a really fancy party so I figured I better pull all stops to blend in with the upper class.” Marco explained with a sheepish grin. The other man finally seemed to pull out of his daze with a huge grin.

 

“I have one word for you: road trip.” He held up the bags to show all the snacks Marco could have if he allowed Jean to tag along.

 

“That’s two words, genius.” Marco said with a fake exasperated sigh.

 

“You know what I mean,” Jean grabbed onto Marco’s arm with his one hand and dragged him towards the open door, “Let’s get this show on the road. I even got your favorite candy, man.” He dug around in the bag before he finally produced four Almond Joys.

 

“Well now I guess I _have_ to let you come along don’t I.” Marco teased but nonetheless allowed Jean to pull him towards his Mini Cooper which was parked in the student parking lot a few minutes away from their dorm.

 

❉ ❉ ❉

 

Jean proved to be a very good road trip buddy, always making sure the radio was playing something good, that his stomach was always filled with Almond Joy-goodness, and even offered to drive when Marco got worn out halfway to Maria.

 

There was still around 45 minutes until they even got close to his neighborhood when a moment of realization came over Jean while he was in the driver’s seat. It came when they were driving down I-90 at full speed with no other cars on the road, windows down with the radio playing on full blast when Vance Joy and his ukulele blasted through the small car.

 

Marco being Marco of course had to sing along with his adorably horrible voice which made it ten times cuter, even going as far to turn the radio up so far that the dial wouldn’t go up any further. A huge grin took over Marco’s face with a brightness that rivaled the strongest of the sun’s rays. His eyes squinted into little crescents as the wind ripped through his hair making Jean's heart feel like he was free falling from a 20 story building.

 

Jean couldn’t keep his eyes off of Marco. He was probably going to crash the fucking car if he didn’t look away soon, but the sight in the seat next to him was making his heart beat uncontrollably.

 

Marco’s tanned cheeks ridden with beautiful freckles is what made it impossibly harder for Jean to look away from the heavenly sight.

 

Jean never claimed to be a poet, but Marco truly reminded him of hot summer days spent running around outside through endless green fields littered with colorful flowers and buzzing honey bees flittering about. The stickiness of having popsicle stained mouths and cold, colored tongues after pleading with your mom to give you money then chasing after the ice cream truck before it reached the end of the block.

 

Then the scene changed with the oranges and pinks of the setting sun. The dying rays filtered through the windshield and rested on his perfectly tanned skin evoking memories of chilly autumn nights and the smell of campfires. The steam coming off of hazelnut lattes ordered in a small coffee shop whilst working on completing homework at a quiet corner table. His honeyed eyes resembling the leaves swirling down from the trees filling the streets with oranges and reds.

 

And then Marco had the audacity to laugh like there was nothing in the world that could bring him down in that moment. Like he was truly unstoppable.

 

 

The lightness of spring was nothing compared to that of his gorgeous laugh. One that made Jean feel like he was soaring through the air far above the clouds. His smile was the relief of colorful flowers popping up through the melted snow, and the calming smell of freshly cut grass.

 

It was then that Jean looked at Marco’s sun kissed face and saw him in a new light (almost literally). Not as just a dorm mate or even a friend but… well never mind, Jean was getting ahead of himself.

 

He forced himself to turn his attention back to the road after noticing a few cars had joined them on the road since Marco had started singing.

 

Though Jean knew little about terms in English, but he paid attention enough in his class in high school to know the extended metaphor he just used wasn’t complete. However, the comfiness that now settled over the car was palpable to being huddled up inside near a fire while the biting chill winter raged on outside. Watching the snow fall lazily while sipping on hot chocolate and feeling serene.

 

There now the damn poem about Marco was complete.

 

Soon enough the last notes of the song rang out through the small car and was replaced with a slower song managing to make Jean forget where he’d been going with his train of thought. It’s not that Jean had a problem with liking a guy per say, it’s just that this was Marco, a guy who was too nice for his own good and probably would never want to date a guy with a personality as grumpy as Jean’s was. He saw Marco turn down the volume on the radio and fiddle to find another station, somehow picking up on Jean’s mood change. Hell Marco probably knew all about the inner turmoil he just put Jean through.

 

It probably doesn’t need to be mentioned that Jean spent the rest of the drive contemplating this new revelation. No amount of conversation starters thrown towards him by Marco could bring him out of his stupor. Marco finally seemed to understand Jean’s need for silence and gave up on his escapades to get the positive mood that was in the car a few minutes ago back.

 

 

When they arrived at Marco’s huge house a while later, Jean decided not to make things weirder than they already were at the moment and dropped his dazed attitude from earlier. Marco had visibly relaxed when he saw Jean was back to teasing and horrible 6th grader humor.

 

The first thing Jean noticed stepping into the foreign house, was the smell of freshly baked goods (cookies maybe?) and the overall homey atmosphere. He never thought a house this big could possibly feel this comfy.

 

“Ma, I’m home!” Marco called into the seemingly empty house, however a short woman, who looked nothing like Marco, came out a few seconds later from the direction of what looked like the TV room.  

 

“Come in, come in!” Even though she looked nothing like the angel next to him, her smile was definitely as bright, if not brighter than Marco’s. “I’m so glad you brought your friend home with you this time!” She brought Jean into a tight hug then gestured for Marco to join in on the hug-fest. “Marco never stops talking about how amazing his roommate is so it’s about time I met you.” She squeezed them both tightly one last time before freeing them of her grip of steel.

 

“Well it’s really nice to meet you Mrs. Bodt.” Jean said once he got his breathing regulated.

 

“Oh you didn’t tell me he was polite too!” Marco’s face turned bright red at his mother’s words.

 

“ _Mom_.” He said with an embarrassing voice crack. He tugged Jean towards the stairs, trying to escape to the safety of his room where his mom wouldn’t dare go in without permission. Well, not since what happened with the incident in 2012, but the Bodt family doesn’t talk about that.

 

At the last minute Marco’s mother grabbed him by the arm and leaned in, as if wanting to tell him a secret but instead stage whispered to her son who still had a light blush settled across his freckled cheeks from earlier, “You sure pick the cute ones.” She patted him on the back and sent him on his merry way.

 

Marco quickly started blushing bright red again and shooed her away telling her something about not scaring Jean away and making him not want to come over to see her again. His mother finally retired back to the TV room apparently satisfied with her job of embarrassing the shit out of her son. Marco decided this was as good a time as any to move towards his room with Jean before she could come back and talk about baby stories.

 

His room was at the end of the short hallway which was decorated in picture after picture of Marco and his parents. He would’ve loved to have taken the time to stare at each and every one, but Marco was currently pulling him away from all of them before he could even get a decent look.

 

“Why can’t I look at baby Marco pictures?” Jean said as he tugged out of Marco’s gentle grip.

 

“Because the baby photos are downstairs.” Jean raised an eyebrow not seeing the problem. Marco let out an embarrassed huff before explaining, “These are all of my middle school photos and I would rather you not see me while I was going through puberty.”

 

“Oh well now I have to look at them. I can’t imagine you not looking perfect.” Marco stuttered at that and Jean used the momentary distraction to rush back down the hall to get a quick glance at a chubby-cheeked Marco complete with braces and wide rimmed glasses.

 

“Holy shit, man. I think you had it rougher than I did.” Marco swiftly ran down the hallway after finally snapping out of his daze to push Jean into his room and further away from the pictures.

 

“Now I get to see the pictures of you when we go to the gala, alright?” Jean rolled his eyes but agreed nonetheless. He looked around Marco’s room noticing posters of things that scattered the wall ranging anywhere from bands, to celebrities, and even to those tacky posters of cats with weird quotes on them. There were multiple pictures of Marco smiling with random people in front of places around the world.

 

The room was completed with a comfy looking bed dressed with light blue sheets placed in front of a large, curtain-less window. Marco quietly shut the door behind Jean and gestured for him to sit on the bed while he rummaged through his closet looking for the one suit he owned.

 

“My mom said she put it on my desk but…” he turned away from the closet to gesture towards the empty desk. He sighed and shuffled through all the clothes hanging up once again, “I can’t find it anywhere; what the heck.” He shut the closet door and plopped on the bed with a sigh. “I think my mom wants us to go downstairs and ask her for it so she can embarrass me even more.”

 

“Ughhh,” Jean groaned “I just got comfy.” He wiggled around on top of the blue sheets to show his reluctance at getting up.

 

“The faster we get downstairs the faster we can get out of here and go back to the dorm.” Jean rolled his eyes clearly not liking the plan. Anything that separated him from Marco’s comfy bed (it was even comfier after driving for two hours in a hard-seated car) was definitely a no-no. “Fine just be a lazy butt; I’ll get the suit and then drag you downstairs and into the car.” Marco joked as he stood up from his bed while Jean gave a lazy thumbs up to the new plan.

 

❉ ❉ ❉

 

They left a few hours later with a suit, three plates of cookies, and a photo of baby Marco that had been slipped into Jean’s pocket last minute while Marco was busy loading the suit into the car.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!
> 
> as always kudos and comments are _very_ much appreciated (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


	3. Days Until Gala: 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With one day until the gala Jean decides he needs some words of advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright this chapter has some ereri in it and also jean finally kicking his butt into gear

**Days Until Gala: 1**

Jean decided a day before the main event he needed to get some sort of guidance about his conflicted feelings and was certain that the best person to go to for this type of advice was Armin. So a call and an about fifteen minute walk later, Jean arrived at the blond’s off campus apartment which he shared with Eren. He could only hope said man was out and about and not laying around the flat when he was going to be telling Armin about his predicament.

 

Jean knocked on the door and within a few seconds, three doors in the shared hallway opened to show confused, and slightly annoyed people, who thought someone had been knocking on their door. Gotta love thin walled apartments. They eventually saw Jean, glared at him, then went back into their flats huffing about needing to move into a better building.

 

The blond opened the door soon after the last person had shut their door with a bright smile on his face and welcomed Jean into the apartment. He ushered Jean over to the couch which smelled suspiciously of Febreze. “So what seems to be the problem? You sounded pretty serious on the phone.” At this Armin frowned a little and rested his hand on Jean’s knee encouraging him to talk.

 

“Well my parents are having this dumb charity gala and expect me to bring Sasha,” Armin raised his eyebrow at this which made Jean burst out laughing, “Yeah we both know why I really can’t do that. Anyways I asked Marco what to do and he said I could take him and just go as friends.”

 

Armin knew better than to interject but he couldn’t help but wonder what the problem was seeing as Jean came out as bisexual to his parents during junior year in high school. His parents wouldn’t judge him if he brought a male date, so what was the whole catastrophe Jean was talking about? Unless he liked Marco-

 

“Wait did you somehow develop feelings for Marco?” Armin questioned with wide eyes.

 

“Jean has a crush on Marco?” Eren appeared seemingly out of nowhere wearing loose green sweatpants with Levi following in black boxers shortly behind him.

 

“Who has a crush on Marco?” Levi questioned with his deep, raspy voice that made Jean nearly pop a boner (or maybe he actually did pop one but Jean didn’t have the guts to look down and check if anything showed).

 

“Jean does.” Eren turned to the raven with a wicked grin “I totally fucking called it, didn’t I?” Levi snorted and walked into the kitchenette ignoring the hand Eren held up for a high-five. All the while Jean sat fuming in his seat, his face had turned a bright red shade of a blush mixed with anger (but mostly anger).

 

“If we’re all done talking about my fucking love life can I get on with the story?” Jean barked at Eren who had the smuggest look Jean had ever seen him wear. Eren motioned for Jean to continue knowing Armin would fill him in on the beginning and all the dirty details he’d missed after Fuckface McGee left.

 

“So Marco said we could go as friends and whatever so of course I said yes-“

 

“Said yes to what? Where were you going?” Jean’s eye twitched at the interruption. Alright so maybe Eren lied, he couldn’t wait until Jean left to hear the beginning of the story.

 

“To a motherfucking ball that I need a date to. Make sense, Jäger?” Eren huffed in frustration but kept quiet nonetheless. “Anyways so I said sure and then we had to go to his house to get a suit for it, you know? And we were in my really fucking uncomfortable coupe and he started singing a song and… shit man I just couldn’t look away and now whenever I see him I get all nauseous and stuff.” Eren was about to say something snarky but Jean cut him off, “And no not nauseous like you make me feel, dickwad.”

 

“Least I _get_ dick.” Eren retorted with a smirk leaving Jean to roll his eyes in annoyance.

 

Armin shot Eren a motherly look that screamed ‘shut up or get out’ which Jean was greatly appreciative of. “So you like Marco but what’s the matter with that?” 

 

“It’s not like my parents will care or anything it’s just that-“

 

“Does anyone else want tea? I have a pot going.” Levi interrupted Jean just as he got to his main point, but if Jean had learned anything it’s to not backtalk the raven unless you wanted to get chewed out with sarcasm. So Jean merely shook his head no and tried to get back to his problem but of course everyone else wanted tea and put in their orders.

 

Jean sighed and continued after the third interruption since he walked into the spotless flat. “First of all I’m pretty sure Marco’s straight and even if he isn’t I don’t think I’m good enough for him. We’re complete opposites and it sucks shit.” Jean said in a rush, not giving anyone time to interject again.

 

“What makes you think he’s straight?” Armin questioned from beside the other blond.

 

“He’s never had anyone stay overnight but he always blushed around Sash.” Jean shrugged trying to look indifferent.

 

Armin giggled like the cutie he was, “Have you ever thought that was maybe just because he was just asexual or aromantic?”

 

Jean squished his face up looking like he ate something sour, “Aro- what?”

 

Armin merely rolled his eyes at Jean’s ability to make everything so dramatic, “It just means someone doesn’t feel romantic attraction towards others. However they can feel platonic love towards others. There’s a whole spectrum of asexuality and not every personal case can be accurately described with just one label.” Armin paused reciting and pushed his reading glasses further up on his nose before addressing Jean once more, “Did that make more sense?”

 

“Yeah thanks, man, but it didn’t really help me with the overall situation. What do I do, Almighty Armin?”

 

“Well I definitely think you’re good enough for him, so don’t let that hold you back from pursuing a relationship with him. However I would make sure you’re seeing him give you romantic signs back before you actually profess your feelings just to be sure nothing changes between you two in case of rejection. This will also give you time to take a step back and see if you can picture being with him in the future.” 

 

At this Levi walked into the room carrying four cups of tea (even though Jean didn’t really want it, he took the cup) then moved over to sit near Eren on the loveseat before adding his own input, “You’re probably overthinking it. This is a huge fucking romantic trope so you might as well go along with it and get some dick in the end.” Eren chuckled at his boyfriend’s brash words of wisdom.

 

“So I should go for it…?” Jean questioned still not getting into the idea of confessing to Marco so soon.

 

“Wait until after the gala or something to tell him.” Eren shrugged giving the simplest advice of the day, but somehow it was the one he really needed to know. This would give Jean enough time to test the waters before jumping in; that is if he jumps at all.

 

“Thanks guys. I don’t know what I’d do without you all.” He sheepishly runs a hand through the darker part of his undercut.

 

Levi, tired of all the sappy bullshit going on cut in. “Great, now we can have a fucking tea party. Now who wants to start the shit talking?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter should be up next friday/saturday
> 
> comments and kudos are so welcomed and they make me really happy because i worked really realllly hard on this so thank you !!! ٩(◔‿◔)۶


	4. Days Until Gala: 0

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright so for some reason ao3 isn't letting me copy and paste through the rich text option so the formatting is really weird because i had to use html instead
> 
> so sorry about that!

**Days Until Gala: 0**

Jean hardly slept that night and it didn’t seem like Marco was any better off, probably nervous about making a good impression on all the stuck up rich people. Jean however was nervous about his huge confession, if there was going to be one at all- but let’s face it there probably was going to be one because who wouldn’t want to be with a person like Marco?

Marco was still lying in bed with the most ridiculously sexy bedhead he squinted his eyes in an attempt to hide them from the blinding light thanks to Jean who pulled the curtains open in hopes of getting Marco out of bed within the next 20 minutes.

“Jeeeean,” Marco grumbled sleepily “It’s too early; let me go back to sleeeeep.”

“It’s past 2 p.m.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes it is you lazy butt. Or should I say lazy Bodt.” Jean laughed at his own lame joke which caused Marco to shove at Jean’s shoulder from where he was crouched beside Marco’s bed.

“If I get up will you never say that again?”

“Sure.”

Marco sat up sluggishly with his eyes barely open, “Do you promise?” He spoke through a yawn.

“Pinkie promise.” Jean said and held out his pinkie finger for Marco to shake on.

“Oh well since your pinkie promised I guess I have to believe you.” He said as he wrapped his pinkie around Jean’s and shook them.

“Damn you are a sassy little thing in the morning.” Jean put a finger to the corner of his mouth to make a dramatic thinking face, “Or I guess you’re a sassy little thing in the afternoon.” Marco simply huffed with a smile and stretched before getting out of his bed to grab his shower supplies. He figured people would probably appreciate that he showed up smelling fresh instead of smelling like a mass of cologne covering up that fact that he hadn’t showered in a few days.

“What time do we need to leave?” Marco asked as he searched around for his towel.

“Well the car ride takes about three hours or so, and with stops it’ll probably be around three and a half maybe four hours if we stop and get food. Anyways, if we leave at three we can get there at like seven which is an hour after the gala officially starts meaning we’ll be fashionably late.” Jean hesitates before adding “Just so you know, at some point you’re going to have to meet my parents and shit.” Jean blushes at the thought of Marco impressing his parents with his great personality that no one could hate.

“Alright. And just to be certain we’re going to change when we get there right?” Jean nodded telling him they would use the services entrance so they wouldn’t be seen by guests. Marco nodded before leaving to shower in the communal bathroom.

After their dorm door shut, Jean was left with his muddled thoughts. If everything went nicely would he even be able to tell Marco what he was feeling for him? He couldn’t help but think about all those ‘what ifs.’ Like what if Marco didn’t like him back? What if he ignored Jean for the rest of the year and requested a new dorm mate next year? But then again; what if Marco said he felt the same and the relationship was horrible and awkward? What would happen when the initial shock of their relationship set in and Marco decides that Jean’s pessimism isn’t as quirky and funny as he previously thought?

He probably should’ve gotten the boatload of new worries sorted out with someone like Armin, but there wasn’t enough time left and he didn’t want to bother the blond again. Armin was currently studying for some huge pre-med test and Jean was lucky Armin had even scheduled an hour or so a few days ago to talk about his main problem at hand. Nevertheless, Jean texted Armin to see if he could possibly fit in a 10 minute conversation while Marco was still showering, but Armin replied a few minutes later stating he was currently at the library studying with some upperclassmen and to ask Eren for advice if he was really desperate.

Jean scoffed at that thinking about how he’d never be desperate enough to go directly to Eren for advice of any kind. Although perhaps he would ask advice on how to throw a killer uppercut, but that was about all Jean could think of off the top of his head.

The door opening startled Jean, who was deep in thought, causing him to jump up from the beanbag he was sitting on and his phone to fall to the floor. The sudden movement then caused three bottles of Coca Cola that had been left in the general vicinity of the chair to nearly spill onto the floor but Jean had caught them before they could do so.

“Were you looking at porn again or something?” Marco joked as he walked in clad in only navy boxers with his towel draped across his left shoulder.

Jean rolled his eyes. “Oh, haha, very funny. If you must know I was about to text Eren about something.”

Marco raised his thick eyebrow, “You, Jean Kirstein, were about to text Eren, Eren Jäger, your sworn enemy?” Jean shoved Marco and grumbled for him to stop being such a drama queen with a cute little pout adorning his face. “So what were you going to text him? An address to meet you at so you can fight to the death?” Jean’s fake pout increased in intensity. “Or what about a sext, hmm? Perhaps a desperate ‘booty call’ was sent?’” At this Jean lightly smacked Marco upside the head before both fell into an endless fit of laughter at the absurdity of the last statement.

“You should be a fucking comedian, Bodt.” At this Marco smiled and did a few little bows just to annoy Jean a little bit more. “Besides if I was ever desperate enough for the Jäger booty, I would hope Levi would kill me before anything could happen.”

“Eren is a good guy, Jean! Stop being a meanie to him.”

“A meanie? Really Marco?” Marco crossed his arms as if to say ‘yes I’m completely serious you big meanie head.’ But of course, Jean was probably just looking too much into Marco’s actions. Jean huffed “It’s a love-hate relationship. We love to hate on each other, we’ve been doing it since elementary. Anyways, enough about me and Jäger, get your suit and let’s head out. We’ve got a 3 hour drive ahead of us.”

And boy was this going to be a long ride Jean thought as Marco put on a playlist of High School Musical. A really long fucking ride. 

❉ ❉ ❉

They arrived a little before 7 which gave them plenty of time to change and fix their hair from the convertible top being down before making their grand entrance. After having listened to all 3 soundtracks to High School Musical (they’re amazing nostalgic songs according to Marco) Jean needed to pop a few aspirin before he could function normally.

They decided way before they got in the car that the person driving got first dibs on music, which Jean had come to regret that rule very, very, quickly. This meant there was 2 very different genres being switched back and forth every half an hour or so that lead to Jean acquiring a major headache (one could only take so many 90’s boyband songs, thank you very much).

When they’d first walked through the double doors to Jean’s servants quarters they were met with a wave of busy workers scurrying about trying to get the last minute details sorted out. This made it easier for Jean and Marco to slip into a passage to get to the upstairs hallway. This back entrance was brilliant because it meant they were undetected by his parents who were no doubt in the ballroom greeting and entertaining guests. It’s not necessarily that he didn’t want them to not meet Marco, but the longer he put off the surprise of not having Sasha as his date this year would probably be best.

Jean’s room was bare compared to Marco’s poster ridden one due to taking most of his own band posters to college with him. The room had a modern, black four-poster bed with a white duvet and red pillows atop it, a white dresser directly across from the bed and two black nightstands. There were two doors connected to the room, one being a bathroom that followed the black and white color scheme, and the other was a large walk in closet that Jean had pulled his suit out of.

Marco pulled off his shirt and started unbuttoning his white dress shirt that matched the covers on Jean’s bed perfectly. “Don’t think I forgot about our bargain, Kirstein.”

“Hah?” Jean questioned while pulling on black pressed pants.

“You promised to show me your awkward middle school phase and I expect to see them before we leave tonight, mister.” Marco finished buttoning the shirt back up then grabbed his own pressed pants while Jean blushed. He probably went through a really weird phase or something with the way he’s blushing about it, Marco assumed as he buttoned the slacks. He slipped on his suit jacket, but when it came to the tie he couldn’t help but stare pensively at it, wondering how the heck he was supposed to make a tie shape out of the long cloth.

Jean seemed to sense his distress because he walked over soon after having finished tying his own tie. Marco vaguely recalls words being said but, oh my god, Jean looked absolutely alluring dressed up in a suit that accentuated the curves of his hips and rested perfectly against his backside (not that Marco had been looking or anything) showing off the arch of his butt that was normally hidden by sweatpants.

“Hey, Marco did you hear me?” Jean snapped his fingers in front of Marco’s adorable face, “You need help?”

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.” Marco blushed just then noticing the close proximity of the two which was close enough to smell the cologne Jean had put on moments before. Jean nodded before taking the silky cloth in his hands and began to setting to work. His long fingers brushed up lightly against Marco’s collarbone so many times Marco nearly thought it had been on purpose. With a few more swift movements, the tie had finally taken its form and Jean began pulling away from Marco. Without thinking, Marco reached forward to quickly grab at the other man’s shirt collar not willing to put distance between themselves quite yet.

Jean let out an embarrassing squeal that would put mice everywhere to shame at the unknowing strength Marco had used to propel Jean back towards him. “What the hell, Marco?” Jean huffed massaging his now sore neck.

Marco hastily put his hands back at his sides as if they had been burned. “Ah, sorry!” He exclaimed sheepishly as he tried to come up with an excuse for his abnormal actions. “There was, uh, a crinkle! Yes, a huge crinkle in your collar and I was going to,” He paused and looked off awkwardly to the side as he finished his lame excuse, “Uncrinkle it.”

“Oh.” Jean said lamely before he glanced in the mirror to fix the now creased shirt. Once he had adjusted it he turned to face a blushing Marco who was currently looking anywhere except at Jean. “Does this look better?”

Marco nodded after a quick glance in the others direction. “You look really nice, Jean.” He smiled when Jean turned his head away to poorly conceal his blush.

They made last minute touches to their attire before Jean realized he could no longer hold off having to socialize with the upper class. With a sigh he and Marco left the comforts of his room and into the hordes of nicely dressed men and women. The overpowering smell of cologne and perfume mixed together along with the heavenly smell of dinner bringing back memories of past galas.

“I hope I don’t stick out too much.” Jean glanced over next to him where Marco was fiddling nervously with the cuffs of his tux.

Jean put a reassuring hand on the brunet’s shoulder. “You fit in just fine, man.” Jean cringed. Why did he feel the need to add man? It’s basically the subtle equivalent of ‘no homo’ but Jean does want the homo. “Uh, I mean you’re probably one of the nicest looking guys here.” He added sheepishly running a hand through his undercut.

Marco laughed, “I hardly think I could be the nicest looking guy when you’re here.” Jean’s head whipped to the side to stare at Marco with wide eyes. Were they flirting? Was Marco actually flirting with him? “I’m sorry,” Marco interrupted Jeans inner conflict with a small smile. “Have I grown a second head?”

“Hah?” He answered untelligently cocking his head to the side.

The brunet merely chuckled, “You’ve been staring at me with this weird look on your face for a while now and I was just wondering if I’d happened to grow a second head.”

Jean schooled his face into not looking like an owl’s before smiling and joking along. “Nope still just your one freckled face.” Marco feigned relief by dramatically wiping nonexistent sweat from his brow. “Alright now we just have to find my-“

“JEANBO!” A man’s screech boomed over the sound of the party. The voice belonged to a tall, lanky man with an angled long face who was followed by an ecstatic looking curvy woman with a much rounder complexion. The man, who Marco assumed was Jean’s dad, was wearing a beige suit complete with a navy blue tie while the woman was wearing a modest long sleeved, ball gown length red dress. “Fashionably late as always, I see.” He paused and looked over to where Marco stood next to Jean. “And who might this fellow be?”

Marco stepped forward with an anxious smile, “Hello sir! I’m Marco Bodt, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The brunet held out his hand which Jean’s father took with an easy smile.

He looked over to Jean and leaned forward as if he was going to tell him a secret. “He’s got a strong handshake. I like him.” Jean blushed and Marco merely laughed thinking back to when his own mother did this to him earlier on in the week.

Jean’s mother introduced herself soon after his father had. No one had yet brought up the elephant in the room. They all continued on with small talk with Marco asking about his degree and how school was going until finally Mrs. Kirstein could no longer deal with the curiosity. “Not that Marco isn’t a lovely young man, but where’s Sasha?”

The blond glanced to Marco who looked ready to give the whole spiel they’d gone over when they first created the plan. However before Marco could open his mouth Jean quickly jumped in. He couldn’t lie to his parents and he definitely couldn’t lie to Marco any longer. “Sasha dumped me for Connie.” He knew the brunet next to him had to have comically wide eyes but he continued, “Marco knew I felt horrible about coming alone so he offered to come with me.”

Mrs. Kirstein looked at her son pensively seeming to understand his unspoken feelings for said friend, “Well how nice of him! Now if you’ll excuse us, we should go finish socializing with the guests.” Mr. Kirstein linked his arm through his wife’s “It was nice to meet you Marco. I hope to see you around more.” She added with a wink before her husband pulled her off into the throng of fancy people.

It wasn’t long after his parents had left that Jean felt his phone vibrate in his pocket with a new message from his mom. “I expect to hear all the juicy details from you later. Xoxo!” He smiled and rolled his eyes before responding he would call her sometime tomorrow.

“So I think that went well, right?” Marco asked with a grin.

Jean grinned back at the brown eyed cutie. “Hell yeah! Definitely better than when Sasha first met them,” He paused suddenly looking disgusted, “I still can’t look at potatoes the same way.” Marco raised a questioning eyebrow but didn’t dare ask. They decided that the ballroom was too cramped after being bumped into multiple times in a row and instead moved into the dinner hall with drinks they had picked up from a waiter’s tray.

❉ ❉ ❉

Jean knew he couldn’t prolong the time until he had to confess his feelings to Marco any longer. He’d held his tongue throughout the long dinner filled with hellish small talk, but by the time dessert got brought out he knew he had to make his move. Every time he seemed to get the nerve to start the conversation, doubt set in and made it impossible to do so. He huffed angrily . Why couldn’t he do this? All he had to say was “Hey Marco, I like you. I started liking you even more these past few days. You’re straight as fuck but I just had to get this off my chest.” That was it that’s all he had to say, now all he had to do was open his damn mouth and say it-

“Jean you- you really feel that way?”

Huh? Jean’s wide eyes met a flustered looking Marco’s. “Feel what way?” There’s no way he said what he was thinking out loud. This wasn’t some teen novel and that shit never happened in real life so why, why did this have to happen to him? Why now is a more important question.

“Do you really,” He looked up at Jean through his thick brown eyelashes bashfully, “Like me?”

“Ah, shit, man.” Jean rubbed a hand over his face hoping it would help hide his blush he looked around the room hoping no one had caught on to their discussion. “Can we uh, maybe go somewhere more private?” Marco nodded and let himself be dragged into a back hallway of sorts which was devoid of any people.

Jean gave himself a quick mental pep talk then started where he left off with an embarrassed huff. “I do mean it. I really, really mean it, Marco. I just never wanted to make things weird between us since we’re dorm mates and all.” He paused gathering his thoughts. “I’ve known I’ve liked you since the car ride that one day. I probably liked you before that but that was when I came to terms with it. I even asked Jäger for help on what to do.” He finally gathered enough courage to look into Marco’s dark brown eyes giving him a small, anxious smile.

Marco smiled lightly back. “And what did Eren tell you to do?”

“To go for it.”

Marco’s flustered face stared shyly at Jean’s determined face before stepping forward slowly to eliminate the personal space left between them. However he gave Jean enough time to back out and step away. “And are you going to follow his advice?” He asked quietly.

Jean hesitated for a second, staring into the depths of Marco’s eyes finding no rejection hidden beneath them. It was now or never. He needed to show Marco how he felt in ways words couldn’t express.

He leaned forward to lightly brush their lips together, feeling the puffs of Marco’s breath against his mouth. Marco had yet to make a move, so Jean decided he had nothing to lose. He closed his eyes and Marco felt the fluttering of Jean’s light eyelashes against his flushed cheeks.

“I think I just might.” He whispered suddenly gaining confidence. And with that Jean tilted his head upwards to meet Marco’s soft lips. There might as well have been fireworks going off in the background because that’s how good the damned middle school kiss felt. Jean wrapped his arms around Marco’s waist so their bodies were flushed against each other. They ended the chaste kiss much too soon for Jean’s liking but kept their arms wrapped around each other.

“So does this mean you’re not as straight as I thought you were?” Jean asked with a devilish smirk making the mood in the room do a 360 turn.

Marco merely rolls his eyes. “I’ve never been as straight as you thought I was, Jean. I’ve been openly pansexual for 4 years.”

Jean looked baffled. “So you mean I could’ve been tapping this a long time ago?” The brunet sighed before bringing his head back down for another kiss to stop Jean from saying anything more. This one was a little less PG which made Jean thankful they’d picked a pretty secluded spot to move to. Marco moved his hands into Jean’s hair and gently pulled on it as he licked the seam of Jean’s lips but pulled apart before the kiss could go any deeper.

“Before this goes any further is there something you’d like to ask me, Jean?” Marco prodded with flushed cheeks.

Jean gets on one knee and Marco cackles his beautiful laugh, “Marco Bodt, I’ve been crushing on you for a while now.” The brunet’s eyes are filled with tears of laughter but Jean continues on with a somewhat serious face. “So would you do me the honor, nay, the immense pleasure of being my number one bae?”

Marco gasped and swatted at Jean’s shoulder in fake annoyance, “Jean you’re so horrible!” However the smile on his face suggested otherwise.

The brunet helped Jean off the ground who won’t admit he’d gotten stuck in the tight pants he was wearing. Once they were both standing again, Jean reached for Marco’s hands in his own once again and ran his thumb over the brunet’s knuckles. “Marco, will you go out with me?”

“Of course I will you goofball.” Marco said with a warm grin that made his eyes crinkle.

“Good now we can live happily ever after.” Jean said sarcastically but both men knew it was exactly what would happen.

And to think it all happened in 10 days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading i hope you enjoyed!  
> comments and kudos make me so happy so thank you

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it!! 
> 
> feel free to leave comments (they make my day and i would honestly probably cry even if it just said waffles tbh) and kudos and bookmarks are also AMAAAZING 
> 
> my tumblr: ****[fortress-of-fanfics](http://fortress-of-fanfics.tumblr.com/)  
> 


End file.
